Twenty Schoolgirls Arrested in Zimbabwe Homosexuality Crackdown

by Adam Amir · 2010-08-06 07:05:00 UTC
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While Americans celebrate a major victory in the battle for LGBT rights, news from Zimbabwe shows how much work still has to be done. According to the ZimDiaspora.com, police in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, have arrested some 20 schoolgirls for allegedly engaging in "lesbian relationships.”

The girls played soccer for their all-girl high school, Eveline High School. One of their teammates reported the alleged lesbian relationships to Eveline administrators.

Locals appeared largely unsympathetic in the press. The soccer club president, Theresa Ndlovu, felt "disappointed," rather than what I would expect would be outrage for the jailing of such young girls.

Likewise, locals like the Bulawayo province education minister Dan Moyo seemed to agree. He said in a ZimDiaspora.com interview, “I only read about it in the papers, and I was shocked. I do not expect such behavior. It is unacceptable.”

Despite such a harsh reaction, officials could not confirm whether the accusations were truthful. "We’re not sure if the accusations are true or a result of feuds among the pupils," Moyo said.

Although Zimbabwe’s anti-homosexuality laws can be traced back to colonial British sodomy laws, those had only prohibited sexual acts. Changes to Zimbabwe’s Criminal Code in 2006 went further when Zimbabwe Parliament banned kissing, hugging or even holding hands for members of the same-sex under its so-called “sexual deviancy” laws.

Zimbabwe continues to be a harsh place for LGBT individuals. Some report a disturbing campaign of “corrective rape,” aimed at forcing lesbians to be heterosexual through sexual violence. Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has compared gays and lesbians to something “worse than dogs and pigs.”

However, a situation this bleak cannot silence the spirit of gay and transgender people across the world. “I don’t know what Mugabe has against pigs and dogs; he must have had the worst sex ever with them,” said Zimbabwean drag queen Kudah Samuriwo in a BBC article.

Photo credit: U.S. Army

Adam Amir is a Harry S. Truman Scholar and recent graduate of the University of Florida. He will work for the New York City Mayor as a part of the Urban Fellows program.
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